Encapsulated materials have been used for many years in a wide variety of commercial applications. Early uses of encapsulated materials included paper coated with capsules bearing coloring material therein which could be used as a recording medium. U.S. Pat. No. 3,016,308 discloses one of the early efforts using encapsulated material as the image source on recording paper. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,058,434 and 4,201,404 show other methods of application of encapsulated coloring materials on paper substrates to be used as imaging media and the like. U.S. Pat. No. 3,503,783 shows microcapsules having coloring material therein which are rupturable by the application of heat, pressure and/or radiation because of a metal coating on the surface of the capsule. These rupturable microcapsules, in one embodiment, may be secured between a substrate and a photoconductive top coat to enable photosensitive imaging of the system.
A wide variety of processes exist by which microcapsules can be manufactured. These varied processes provide different techniques for producing capsules of varying sizes, alternative materials for the composition of the capsule shell and various different functional materials within the shell. Some of these various processes are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,516,846; 3,516,941; 3,778,383; 4,087,376; 4,089,802; 4,100,103 and 4,251,386 and British Patent specification Nos. 1,156,725; 2,041,319 and 2,048,206. A wide variety of different materials may also be used in making the capsule shells. A popular material for shell formation is the polymerization reaction product between urea and formaldehyde or melamine and formaldehyde, or the polycondensation products of monomeric or low molecular weight polymers of dimethylolurea or methylolated urea with aldehydes. A variety of capsule forming materials are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,516,846 and 4,087,376 and U.K. Patent Specification Nos. 2,006,709 and 2,062,570.
As shown in these references, the principal utility of microencapsulated materials is in the formation of a surface coated with the microcapsules in a binder. The microcapsules are ruptured by various means to release the material contained therein. In addition to release of physically observable materials such as ink in order to form a visible image, other types of active ingredients such as odor releasing materials, bacteriostatic materials, chemically active materials and the like have been provided in this manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,186,743 describes the use of microcapsules on a pressure sensitive adhesive between two surfaces on a sanitary napkin. When a cover layer is removed, capsules are broken and the fragrance is released.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,801 describes the use of a non-pressure sensitive adhesive layer between two surfaces, the layer having fragrance containing microcapsules therein. Upon separation of the two surfaces, the adhesive and the microcapsules are ruptured, releasing the fragrance. U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,417 shows a similar article in which the two surfaces are coated paper surfaces.